Automotive Software Development

Use Parasoft C/C++test and the Parasoft qualification kit to create safe, secure, reliable software required by ISO 26262 and MISRA.

Today's cars have more software than ever before.

With advanced GPS, autonomous features, driver assistance, safe braking, and other accident avoidance systems, many modern cars have more code than advanced aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner or the Lockheed Joint Strike Fighter. The safety and reliability of this software is critical, and small flaws can't be ignored in functional safety.

Software defects are a growing cause of automotive recalls (15% of recalls in 2015, up from 5% only 5 years earlier), according to the Industry Insights for the Road Ahead: Automotive Warranty and Recall Report 2016 from SSR. Software recalls have been caused by all aspects of automotive subsystems, from locks through climate control and infotainment, to powertrains and even safety systems.

Of course, not all software defects result in a recall. Typically, manufacturers try to address fixes via software updates when a car is in for service, or announce via Technical Service Bulletins (TSB) (which the consumer may not be aware of), but the defects are still there. Research shows that automotive recalls affect share value – depending more on the affected component than the number of vehicles recalled.

In order to ensure software in vehicles will not lead to tragedy for the occupants or those around them, ISO created strict standards for software quality throughout the software development lifecycle in ISO 26262. This standard is a special automotive adaption of the broad electronic safety-systems standards found in IEC 61508. These standards require organizations to prove that the software and safety requirements are met and fully tested. For over 30 years, Parasoft has been helping organizations follow such standards through required best practices like unit testing, test coverage, software metrics, traceability, and static code analysis with built-in support for MISRA.

Achieve MISRA Compliance

Achieve ISO 26262 Compliance

Tool Qualification

ISO 26262 requires you to qualify test automation tools. This means tests, data, and documentation that support the proper installation, configuration, and operation of the chosen tool. Parasoft C/C++test is certified by TÜV SÜD to be qualified for functional safety related software development according to IEC 61508 and ISO 26262.

Parasoft streamlines the tool qualification process with a qualification kit that contains everything you need to easily qualify Parasoft C/C++test as a verification tool. In short, the kit contains all the documentation, templates, tests and reports you need to qualify C/C++test. There is a GUI driven tool that lets you select which components you’re using so as to shorten the verification process if you’re only using some of the C/C++test functionality. The selected components create a specific test suite and executes it, then compares it with the expected outputs and produces necessary documentation for your tool qualification process.

Using Parasoft C/C++test and the qualification kit will streamline your deployment and help create safe, secure, reliable software required by ISO 26262 and MISRA.

Addressing the Challenges of Increased Connectivity

The automotive industry continues to innovate and increase car connectivity and complexity. Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) and self-driving technologies continue to become more sophisticated, and the number of intelligent autonomous sensors is constantly growing. All of these advancements in automotive platforms are also advancing the complexity of testing components and managing the test environment. It is no longer sufficient to attach a series of devices to a board and physically plug them together. The test bed needs to take into account external connections to the cloud and handle security attacks from inside the system itself.

Combining protocol (API) testing (via Parasoft SOAtest) with runtime application coverage and simulated virtual test beds (via service virtualization from Parasoft Virtualize), Parasoft provides a complete set of technologies to take control of the testing challenges of today’s connected platforms.

Parasoft's Comprehensive Solution for Automotive

Parasoft C/C++test

Parasoft DTP

Parasoft SOAtest

Parasoft Virtualize

"With Parasoft, we get not only testing automation but the ability to store and track test results to measure and monitor our performance and use that information to progressively improve our development process. That is where we save real time and money in the long run."

- Transcore

"Parasoft C++test runs the tests during the night, and then the team gets the results of those tests in the morning. The reduction in time saved here can also be attributed to the fact that with Parasoft C++test, 75% to 80% of errors were detected during the upstream processes (design phase up to unit test phase), leaving only 20% to 25% left for the downstream processes (integration testing phase to product release)."

- NEC

"Parasoft's solution is teaching us all to be better programmers. It helps us find errors that we didn't even realize were errors. Parasoft's solution has saved the Global Modeling and Analysis team both time and resources that we would have otherwise spent finding and fixing defects. Instead, we get to spend that time adding new features and functionality."

— Development Engineer, Trane

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Find out how Parasoft's solutions for automotive software development can help your team.